1.Last
week I started teaching a series of lessons on the Bible.So far, I have taught that the Bible is
without a doubt God's inspired Word.

THIS MORNING, I AM GOING TO PREACH A
LESSON ON "THE IMPORTANCE OF OBEYING GOD'S WORD."

I.FIRST, GOD EXPECTS US TO OBEY HIS WORD.

1.Here
are some New Testament passages that teach us to obey the Word of God.

“If you love me, you will
obey what I command.“If anyone
loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will
come to him and make our home with him.He who does not love me will not obey my teaching" (Jn. 14:15,
23, 24).

"This is how we know
that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out His
commands.This is love for God: to
obey His commands.And His
commands are not burdensome…" (1 Jn. 5:3).

"So then, brothers,
stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word
of mouth or by letter" (2 Thess. 2:15).

"What you heard from
me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ
Jesus" (2 Tim. 1:13).

2.As
you can see from these verses, obedience to God and His Word is extremely
important.In fact, it is a mandatory
part of our Christian lives.If we love
God, we will obey His commands.We must
obey not just part of His commands--not just the ones that we like or agree
with.We must strive to obey all of His
decrees.

II.SECOND, WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES OF
DISOBEYING GOD'S WORD?

1.In
our day and age, I have noticed, and please correct me if I am wrong, that some
people including Christians do not take God's commands or doctrines very
seriously.Some people think that when
the new covenant, the covenant of grace, came into effect, God stopped caring
about doctrine.Some feel that doctrine
is insignificant in the new covenant, only serving and loving God's people are
what's important today.

2.Brethren,
I am a firm believer that serving and loving God's people are important.However, obeying God's commands and
doctrines are very important as well.In fact, not only are we going to be judged on our service to others,
but we will also be judged on how faithful we are in following the Word of God.

“As for the person who
hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not
come to judge the world, but to save it.There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my
words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day"
(Jn. 12:47, 48).

We will be judged on how
faithful we are in following the Words of the Lord.

3.As
you can tell, I am very concerned with the laid back attitude that some people
have concerning the doctrines and commandments of God.Furthermore, I am also very concerned how
some people are distorting the Scriptures to justify their own desired
beliefs.Some people, instead of
excepting and obeying God's specific teaching on a subject, manipulate or
distort God's Word to support their own human views.The Bible on many occasions warns us not to distort truth.

"I am astonished that
you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ
and are turning to a different gospel—which is really no gospel at all.
Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to
pervert the gospel of Christ.But
even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the
one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!As we have already said, so now I say
again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you
accepted, let him be eternally condemned" (Gal. 1:6-9).

"For the time will
come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their
own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to
say what their itching ears want to hear.They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to
myths" (2 Tim. 4:3, 4).

Today,
many people are twisting the Scriptures around to support their own opinions
and views.

For Example:

a.Although
the Bible teaches in (Mk. 16:16) that baptism is essential
to salvation, many people say that it isn't.

b.Although
the Bible teaches in (1 Cor. 6:9) that homosexuals will not
enter into heaven, many people say that was simply Paul's opinion, and that God
does not forbid homosexual behavior.

c.Although
the Bible teaches in (1 Tim. 2:12) that women are not
allowed to teach or have authority over men but must be silent, some women who
disagree with God's divine commandment, say that that passage was cultural in
natural or that passage only refers to husbands and wives -- not men and women.

d.My
friends, we need to see that it is a very serious thing to distort God's
Word.

(1)According to (Gal.
1:9), people who distort the Word of God will be eternally
condemned.

(2)According to (2
Pet. 2:1-3; 3:16), people who distort the Word of God
will bring upon themselves destruction.

4.We
must never intentionally distort the Word of God to satisfy our human and
worldly beliefs.If we do, we are
jeopardizing our souls.

5.If
we distort or disobey a commandment of God, we commit sin (1
Jn. 3:4).And you know, as well as I know that sin is a very serious offense.

6.When
God gives us a command, we need to do our very best to follow it.We need to start taking God's commands more
seriously.In the Bible, when people
disobeyed God's instructions, they were punished.

a.Just
because Adam & Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
which God told them not to, death came to all people (Gen.
3).

b.Just
because Moses struck the rock instead of speaking to it like God told him too,
he was not allowed to enter the Promised Land (Num. 20:8-12).

c.Just
because Nadab & Abihu offered an unauthorized fire while worshipping God,
fire came down from the presence of the Lord and consumed them (Lev.
10:1, 2).

d.Just
because Ananias & Sapphira lied to the Holy Spirit and held back some money
from a land deal, they both fell down and died (Acts 5).

7.My
dear brothers and sisters, we must start taking the commandments of God more
seriously.Although we are living in
new covenant of grace, we still must obey the Lord.We must revere the word's of our creator.We must obey the commands that even seem
insignificant to us.I realize that
none of us are perfect, and on occasions, we will make mistakes.But we must do every thing we can to
faithfully obey the commands of God and not distort His Word.

8.We
would all benefit greatly if we take heed to the wise words of Solomon.

"Now all has been
heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep His
commandments, for this is the whole duty of man" (Ecc. 12:13).

III.THIRD, HOW WILL WE BENEFIT FROM OBEYING
GOD'S WORD?

1.First,
if we obey God's Word we will obtain salvation.

“I tell you the truth,
whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life and
will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life" (Jn.
5:24).

"I am not ashamed of
the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone
who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile" (Rom. 1:16).

If we continue to obey God's Word, we will
obtain the beautiful and blessed state of salvation.This means that when we die, an angel
of the Lord will carry us to Abraham's bosom, where we will be
comforted.After the Second Coming
of the Lord, and judgement day, we will enter heaven.In heaven, we will be with God and
Christ.We will be separated from
the wicked.There will be no more
sorrow, no more hunger or thirst, and no more pain and death.

We can enjoy these great benefits of salvation,
if we continue to obey God's Word.

2.Second,
if we obey God's Word we will be blessed in many ways.

"If you
fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all His commands I give
you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on
earth.All these blessings will
come upon you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God…" (Dt.
28:1, 2).

Throughout the Bible, God has blessed many
people for obeying His Word, and I think that He is still blessing people
for obedience today.

To be blessed means "to endue with power
for success, prosperity, and longevity."In essence, the one who is blessed is given a rich and
abundant life.

a.If we follow the Lord's commands, we will
be blessed with financial prosperity (Dt. 28:11).

b.If we follow the Lord's commands, we will
be blessed with success (Josh. 1:8).

c.If we follow the Lord's commands, we will
be blessed with long life (Dt. 4:40; 5:33; Prov. 10:27).

d.If we follow the Lord's commands, we will
be blessed with eternal life (Jn. 5:24).

CONCLUSION:

1.In today's lesson, we have learned that
God wants us to obey His commands.If
we do, we will be blessed in many ways.

2.On the other hand, if we purposely distort
the Biblical teachings or disobey the Word of God, we commit sin.

3.We must start taking the commandments and
doctrines of God more seriously.We
must recognize that even though we live in the covenant of grace, God still
wants us to accurately obey His Word.

4.I would like to close this morning, by
reading you a poem written by an unknown author.

Dear Master for this coming year

Just one request I bring:

I do not pray for happiness

Or any earthly thing --

I do not ask to understand

The way Thou leadest me,

But this I ask:Teach me to do

the thing that pleaseth Thee.

I want to know Thy guiding voice,

To walk with thee each day.

Dear Master make me swift to hear

And ready to obey.

And thus the year I now begin

A happy year will be --

If I am seeking just to do

the thing that pleaseth Thee.

5.This will wrap up our series on the
Bible.I hope that you enjoyed it as
much as I have.If this lesson from
God's Word has encouraged you to respond in any way, please come forward as we
stand and sing.